County Assembly: Composition

Every County Assembly will consist of a Speaker and Members directly elected by the people of the Wards:

178. (1) Each county assembly shall have a speaker elected by the county assembly from among persons who are not members of the assembly.

177. (1) A county assembly consists of— (a) members elected by the registered voters of the wards, each ward constituting a single member constituency, .......

Table 3. Composition of the County Assembly

Assembly Office

Provisions

County Assembly Speaker

Elected by, but not from among the Members of the Assembly.

Members of the County Assembly

Directly elected by the peoples of the Wards; Party Lists to meet gender parity, reflect the face of the County and ensure representation of 'minorities and marginalised'.

Devolved Location Assemblies

As per devolution requirements to sub-county levels; Reflect the face of the Location, gender parity, minorities and marginalised, etc.

As we will soon see, these Assemblies were vested with wide-ranging political, supervisory and oversight powers to implement national policies, make laws, and serve minority interests. This is informed by the idea that political autonomy at the local level is important for the reason that it (hopefully) ensures the political participation of the marginalised, and hence guarantees their Bill of Rights.

As we have shown elsewhere in the discussion on Representation, new requirements for political parties to have Party Lists is a form of political decentralization. In order to fulfill the New Constitution's requirements on the representation of the marginalised and minorities as well gender parity, the composition of the Assembly is governed by special provisions:

177. (1) A county assembly consists of— (b) the number of special seat members necessary to ensure that no more than two-thirds of the membership of the assembly are of the same gender; (c) the number of members of marginalised groups, including persons with disabilities and the youth, ....... .

197. (1) Not more than two-thirds of the members of any county assembly ....... shall be of the same gender.(2) Parliament shall enact legislation to— (a) ensure that the community and cultural diversity of a county is reflected in its county assembly ........; and(b) prescribe mechanisms to protect minorities within counties.

NB. The discussion on Electoral System examines the manner of election and nomination of the members of the County Assembly.